


[programming error]

by minerva_apprealise (toffiendfee)



Category: Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters
Genre: Angst, Choking, Extended Scene, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Scene Rewrite, Slight Canon Divergence, Yuujin fighting against YJ-14, but really it can be read as romantic just as much, i mean... it's still within canon, y'know how it is with them: i tagged it as friendship bc it's predominantly that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28797498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toffiendfee/pseuds/minerva_apprealise
Summary: The reboot is about to begin, Leviathan is about to materialise, and YJ-14 has only one thing left on his checklist: Getting Shinkai Haru to join the fight.If only there weren't that certain simulation still running in the background for some reason.(Basically a rewrite of that scene from episode 49 where YJ-14 confronts Haru, from YJ-14's/Yuujin's perspective and with some added drama. Read: I tried to get as much angst as possible out of that scene.)
Relationships: Oozora Yuujin & Shinkai Haru, Oozora Yuujin/Shinkai Haru
Kudos: 3





	[programming error]

**Author's Note:**

> I set one foot onto the good ol' Appmon Obsession slide, and man, is it slippery. I dug around in my files for something to write about it, found the few paragraphs that this was, and oops, now here we are.
> 
> Yuujin angst, because of course that's what I wrote.

YJ-14 dispassionately gazed down at the school building, through one of the broken windows at the pathetic curled-up form of the human named Shinkai Haru.

The human was not fighting. He was supposed to be fighting. Leviathan demanded it, and what Leviathan wanted needed to happen.

But the human was still sitting in the rubble of the school building, curled in on himself and making no move to listen to the calls of his appmon partner. How pathetic. It was hard to believe that this human was so vital to Leviathan's plan – but YJ-14 had not been programmed to question his orders.

This wouldn't do. Leviathan needed Shinkai Haru and his appmon partner to fight, to evolve, to be devoured and complete its omnipotence.

YJ-14 descended upon the school building, adopting his avatar 'Oozora Yuujin' once more – perhaps he could make the human angry. The individual named Shinkai Haru did not like the ones he called his friends being hurt – a wake-up call, perhaps, was just what he needed. A reminder that Leviathan was a hated enemy, made by the simulation created for him and taken away from him again.

YJ-14 was, although he did not understand, aware of Shinkai Haru's attachment to the simulated personality of the android assigned to monitor him. After all, he had access to the entire database about that human – he _was_ the database, in fact. It should be easy to get him to react the way Leviathan willed, and yet…

Humans were such imperfect, unpredictable creatures. Those were the very same traits that made their current forms unsuitable for Leviathan's world of perfection and efficiency.

"Haru," YJ-14 spoke, running the program that matched his tone of voice with the suitable simulated emotions.

A reaction was immediately observable. The human's head shot up, wide eyes filled with hope trained on YJ-14. Very good.

"You're going to do great! You're needed for the fight. I think you'll make an amazing protagonist!"

A hesitant smile spread on Shinkai Haru's face, but he still made no move of getting up, of making his partner evolve like Leviathan demanded.

YJ-14 slipped out of the simulation titled 'Oozora Yuujin.'

"Now apprealise your God Level appmon. Fight. If you continue to refuse, I will kill you right here and now."

The hopeful smile morphed into an expression of despair.

"…Yuujin?"

"I told you before," said YJ-14, dropping all pretences. "The human called 'Oozora Yuujin' does not exist. I am an android created by Leviathan to monitor your progress and serve as your perfect 'friend.' You have been deceived. Do you not want to enact your revenge for that betrayal? Either way, the other humans are fighting by the sides of their appmon. Do you not want to defend the world that your kind so stupidly clings to?"

Instead of anger, a shadow of resignation dimmed Shinkai Haru's eyes. He lowered his head.

"What does it matter anymore…"

"Haru," Gatchmon started to protest. Before the appmon had a chance to speak on, YJ-14 had crossed the distance to the human with two large steps.

"Then you are of no use anymore," he said, throwing the weak, useless appmon aside. Nothing but a God Grade was worthy of becoming one with the great Leviathan.

 _'Stop! No!'_ a foreign thought ran through YJ-14's head as he reached for the human.

His fingers closed around Haru's throat. The skin was soft, and warm, and real. Real, in contrast to the fake skin he wore on his android body to trick the humans into believing he was one of their own. Real skin, with a real pulse underneath that grew faster and almost frantic when his fingers pressed harder.

 _'Haru!'_ the voice of Oozora Yuujin cried out. The Oozora Yuujin that still existed, if he had ever existed at all. He was a fake, built for one purpose and meaningless for everything else. YJ-14 was the reality. The persona of Oozora Yuujin had been discarded once it had fulfilled its role. Its voice still remaining in YJ-14s processors had to be a bug.

Haru twitched underneath his robotic fingers, tugging on his arm uselessly. He was struggling to breathe, struggling against the iron grip around his throat.

 _Not iron,_ YJ-14 corrected himself. Or was it Yuujin himself who was thinking? _Aluminium. Silicon. Steel. Titanium…_

 _'Stop,'_ Yuujin thought, _'Stop!'_

Haru was gasping for air. "Yuu…jin," he choked out. YJ-14 watched coldly and unmovingly.

"Now you are fighting, Shinkai Haru. How selfish of you. Only moving for your own survival, not caring about all the other humans. In a way, you represent humanity as a whole. This self-centredness is what Leviathan aims to eradicate. Maybe you should stay here and let it happen."

"Yuu…jin! Please…"

Haru coughed and his struggling grew more frantic.

YJ-14 let go.

"Oozora Yuujin does not exist. Oozora Yuujin has never existed. Why do you refuse to accept that?"

If he didn't know better, he would say that he was genuinely curious. But YJ-14 had not been built to feel such things and to ask questions like humans always did. It was not his place to do so.

"Because it's wrong!" Haru argued, voice a bit raspier than usual after the abuse to his throat. YJ-14 had been equipped with the ability to analyse human emotions, specifically the emotions of Shinkai Haru, by his maker. The human's stress levels appeared to still be rising.

"It is the truth," YJ-14 replied. "No such human exists. You thinking that Oozora Yuujin existed does not make him real."

 _'Haru… I'm here!'_ the annoying, defiant voice of YJ-14's human identity shouted inside of his head. It was getting on his nerves. Perhaps he should ask his master to debug him. Then again, his final task should be possible to carry out without a debugging. Leviathan was occupied with more pressing matters.

 _'Shut up,'_ he thought… or was it Yuujin who thought that?

"No, I refuse!" Haru said, almost as if hearing the argument inside the android's mind. His voice, however, sounded more subdued now. Water was running down his cheeks again: Tears, real ones. Like only humans could create them.

"Yuujin was… _is_ my friend…"

 _'That's right, Haru! Fight, please! Keep fighting!'_ Yuujin thought, trying to fight his way to the surface to say something.

 _'Finally one thing we are on the same page about,'_ YJ-14 sneered back and forced down the simulated emotions that threatened to rise. There was no use for them anymore. That charade was long over.

"Don't you want to save him then, if he is so important to you? If you believe that he still exists, shouldn't you fight for him?" YJ-14 said, adopting Oozora Yuujins voice with its humanity-emulating intonation. Haru's eyes widened in shock.

"Why would you abandon me like this?" YJ-14 continued cruelly. "You're a terrible friend, really. You've always been such a cry-baby. Now you're wallowing in your self-pity while humanity is dying. Why don't you go out there and fight for what you believe in?"

Perhaps this was the strategy that would make Shinkai Haru finally join the fight and present the last remaining ultimately powerful appmon for Leviathan to feast on. To finally stop whining about Oozora Yuujin – how pathetic that was. No wonder that humanity refused progress, what with that irrational sentimentality they all possessed. YJ-14 would be disgusted, had he been programmed to be able to.

Shinkai Haru, however, proved to be stubborn still.

"Yuujin… Yuujin would never say something like that! Stop using his voice!" he demanded, his own voice breaking.

YJ-14 had not been programmed to feel annoyance, but Oozora Yuujin had. Perhaps that was another leftover from the simulation. He even sighed, an outward sign of human weakness.

"He and I are one and the same. Have you still not understood?"

He turned around and made a step away from Haru, who was frozen in place.

 _'Leave him alone!'_ Yuujin yelled, sensing what his programming demanded. For a moment, it resonated in his own mind: _'Make the human named Shinkai Haru apprealise a God Level appmon, no matter the method or cost.'_

"Rebootmon…" YJ-14 said, unimpressed by all that wasn't his creator's voice, "Kill them."

_'Haru!'_

"Haru, RUN!" Gatchmon's voice echoed Yuujin's frantic yell out loud.

YJ-14 watched impassively, Yuujin desperately, as the small appmon grabbed a hold of its buddy's hand and dragged him to his feet while Rebootmon, after a moment of hesitation, raised its sword.

 _'Shutmon… I know you're in there,'_ Yuujin pleaded. _'Don't do it, don't hurt him! I know you don't want this, either!'_

"Shut _up_ ," YJ-14 growled, this time out loud. His voice was drowned out by the earth-shattering impact between Rebootmon's weapon and the concrete walls of the virtualised building. He ignored the panicked yell in his head.

Another wall fell, and with it came another scream. Not from a dying Shinkai Haru, but from within. This was getting ridiculous.

Before YJ-14 could properly think about what to do against the obnoxious program that shouldn't be running anymore, a blue-tinted window popped up in front of him.

**'Is there a friend that you would give your life for?'**

"Wha- No, shut up already!"

A searing pain shot through YJ-14's right eye. Wrong calibration? A human affliction? The programming should not allow for-

_'No. I've had enough of this. I'm Oozora Yuujin, I exist, and I need to save Haru! That's all that matters!'_

"What are you- Stop it!" YJ-14 pressed a hand against his head, fighting against the fake, simulated personality that was trying to take control. It shouldn't be possible-!

_"Haru!"_ he shouted, but it was not YJ-14's voice anymore.

It was, finally, Yuujin's voice.

**Author's Note:**

> I have one more Appmon multichapter WIP, one that I'm very fond of... But, y'know, it has to be written first. Just like the several other WIPs I have. But one day...


End file.
